Pistons coach Michael Curry believes that their current break in the exhibition schedule will help the team a great deal.

Detroit will not play another preseason game until Wednesday when they battle Cleveland to home.

“I love the practice time,” Curry said Friday. “I’ll take that kind of practice schedule anytime. Anytime we can get practice time, we’re going to get better.”

The Pistons are 5-1 in preseason play this month.

Via Detroit Free Press

Do we need a break already?

Hey Guys,

Been crazy busy down under for the past few.   I have a couple of points I wanted to make and would be happy to hear your thoughts.

Michael Curry - you mention he has the player’s respect now, but risks losing it should he start yelling at players and in particular, veterans.  I actually think this is not the case and that he has been given the authority to completely makeover the culture/tone of the team to whip them into the shape of a well drilled unit.  If he needs to give the players a verbal spray to keep them “accountable”, I think and hope he will do it.  I think this because Michael Curry is a proxy for Joe Dumars, even more so than Flip was.  He has Joe’s total backing and as Joe has said, there are no sacred cows on this team anymore. Under Flip, there probably were some sacred cows which may have hampered his ability to establish his authority over certain players.   I think the team had grown a bit soft and undisciplined under Flip (Larry Brown’s team wouldn’t have mailed in game 6) and Coaches are just as important for setting the tone of the team  as they are for drawing up X’s and O’s. This will be a major area he’ll address and nothing will send a stronger message than Michael giving a verbal spray to a veteran who isn’t doing what he should be.  Sheed, we’re looking at you if you think of venturing more than 5ft away from the low block.  

Chauncey Billups - he seems to be getting ripped a lot for his lack of heart, but perhaps, just perhaps, the leg injury was hampering him in the playoffs last season.  We don’t really know but I too think the hamstring was a bit of a soft excuse. Anyways, we have a new season now and what I did want to bring up was the Stuckey effect on Billups and how this may play out.  Surely Chauncey is a proud and competitive athlete and the sight of a sophomore player putting up numbers/minute that would be superior to his will get his attention and serve as motivation.  For this reason alone, I actually think we may see a more intense and hungry Billups, if only to hold onto his starting PG spot. Nobody likes to be shown up or demoted to a youngster and Chauncey still has many great years left in him.  He never really had this pressure with Lindsey Hunter who was always more of a defensive specialist so I am hoping they can form an incredibly formiddable PG rotation - perhaps the best in the league.

 
Antonio McD’s replacement - would love to give it to Amir but it has to be Kwame, purely on size and experience.  Plus, I love the prospect of Stuckey, Afflalo, Maxiell and Johnson with Sheed all on the floor together.  That prospect has me very excited.

 
Captainship.  I would like to turn this team completely over to Rip.  He still has the hunger in my opinion and is respected by the players.  I also think he has the moxie to call out players and make sure they do what they’re meant to be.  Like the Coach, the Captain should set the tone.  Chauncey may be a little soft on this and Sheed too erratic.  Rip is consistent and would bring a “you better work damn hard” attitude every night.  Who could not play hard for a guy who runs his heart out for the team each and every game.   That on its own should bring everyone’s work ethic up and I would love to see Rip being more vocal on the court as our leader.

 
Ok - rant over. 

 
Hope the comments provide some inspiration for more discussion on the show and a big shout out to all those Piston’s fans who have been sending me a shout outs from afar.  It’s great to props all the way out here in Sydney.

Peace,
Jules

www.pistonscast.com

Whats Going On World?

John W. Davis here.  You have to check out my man Keith Langlois at www.truebluepistons.com  It’s the official blog of the Detroit Pistons.  Keith is practically at pratice every day and check out some of these observations.

————————————————————————————-

• 1. OK, before I get another flood of “how tall is Amir” questions, I asked him the other day and he said during pre-camp physicals they told him he measured in at 6-foot-11and 226 pounds.

2. Curry mixed up the three five-man units from the first day to the second, never with more than two starters to a unit, but the constant from Tuesday to Wednesday was the big man pairing of Rasheed Wallace and Johnson. I asked him if there was anything to read into that regarding the fifth starting spot.“They work well together,” he said. “When you’re trying to balance out the team, you look at trying to have one of our younger guys with the veterans.”Kwame Brown and Antonio McDyess were teammates today, as were Jason Maxiell and Cheikh Samb. On Tuesday, it was Brown and Maxiell, McDyess and Samb.

3.The defense has won more than its share of battles with the offense, but Walter Sharpe had a nice moment when he grabbed an offensive rebound, then hit a half-hook from about 12 feet over Tayshaun Prince.

4. Curry wrapped up the practice but putting the offense in situations where they’d have to go the length of the court, down by two points, in eight seconds. Then inbound the ball at half-court, down three points. Rasheed Wallace designed a play for his red team that netted him a potential tying 3-pointer. He missed, but Johnson made a spectacular play that saw him get fouled while almost tapping the rebound in.

• 5. Curry only scheduled one session Wednesday after going hard twice on Tuesday. The schedule for Thursday calls for another three-hour morning practice, then the popular open practice at Oakland University 6:30-8:30 p.m.

———————————————————————————–

AMIR IS 6-11 226 now!

Sounds like a nice size to start with Rasheed.  Oh Wait in practice guess who he Big man pairing is,  Rasheed. OMG!  COACH CURRY, you are the greatest. LOL

Peace,

John W. Davis

www.pistonscast.com

Hello? Is that you on the line John W. Davis?

What’s Going on World?

John W. Davis here.  Rip is back in the news.  I wonder is that beard gone yet. Anyway, Rip says he is happy now but last year he became frustrated with former head coach Flip Saunders.  (Did You?)

——————————————————————-

CHECK OUT THIS EXCERPT FROM THE DETROIT NEWS:

Pistons’ Hamilton is a happy camper

AUBURN HILLS — For most of last season, Richard Hamilton was not his usual self. He was moody off the court — at least with the media — and at times couldn’t contain his frustration on it, which was evidenced by his career-high 15 technical fouls.

There was speculation he was distracted by the birth of his son, which happened right before the season-opener. That, he says, wasn’t it.

“I had a son, which was one of the greatest times of my life,” Hamilton said Wednesday. “That was not a disappointment. Nothing off the court was a disappointment.”

“I was disappointed at the way Flip (Saunders) did things, that was the frustrating thing about it,” he said.

Hamilton wouldn’t get into specifics, but his major point of contention with Saunders was that he didn’t hold all players accountable for their actions.

“Players like to be challenged and they want discipline, even when they fight at times,” coach Michael Curry said. “Rip was frustrated because he didn’t feel that everybody was being held accountable. Our goal as a coaching staff this year is to do a better job holding everybody accountable every day.”

Hamilton has been a happy camper thus far and is eager to turn the page on last season.

“I don’t want to talk about (Saunders), either,” he said. “It’s a new season and I am glad MC is the coach. You can’t look to the past. I am glad to move on and focus on the season ahead of us.”

—————————————————————————-

If Rip is happy then I am happy too.  Rip is not a player to make excuse so early in the season I think having his child was an issue.  As the season progressed I believe Flip became an issue.  Richard Hamilton should be the focal point of the outside game and that surely was not the case last season.

All the players keep saying Flip let them slide.  They keep saying that no one was accountable and that Michael Curry will be the coach to do it.

The more they say it, the more I believe them.

Peace,

John W. Davis

www.pistonscast.com

A New Man? Who likes the Goatee?

What’s Going on World?

John W. Davis here.  My man, your man, everyone’s man, Rodney Stuckey says things have changed in the D.  There is a new feeling.

I like his swag but is he speaking out too much, too soon?  He’s still the 6th starter!

PISTONS TRAINING CAMP

For Stuckey and Pistons, feeling is ‘a lot different’

Rodney Stuckey says that the feeling around the Pistons as they enter training camp is a lot different than it was last year.

“Things are just different around the practice facility,” said Stuckey. “Having a new coaching staff in here and spending more time around Michael Curry … things are just a lot different.

“The vibe is different. It’s been good, though. I think we’re all ready to get started and get back to the grind.”

Stuckey averaged 7.6 points and 2.8 assists during the regular season, but broke out in the playoffs last spring.

“I’m ready for any challenge that comes up,” Stuckey said. “I’m always ready. You’re always going to hear that from me. I know they are going to be expecting a lot more out of me, but it’s a challenge.”

Does that last quote sound a bit like Kobe?

Peace,

John W. Davis

www.pistonscast.com

What’s Going On World? 

John W. Davis here.  Michael Curry is our coach and Pistonscast.com is happy about it.  It was time for a coaching change.  Everytime we switch coaches we seem to go to the next level, the next plateau.  When Rick Carlisle left, we won a championship.  When Larry Brown left, we had the most wins in franchise history.  When Flip Saunders left,  you get my drift.  Something great will happen.  Hopefully it is another DETROIT BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP!

Detroit Pistons coach Michael Curry is the anti-Flip Saunders

Posted by Patrick Hayes September 19, 2008 09:15AM

Categories: Basketball

BACKGROUND: I did not get a one-on-one interview with Pistons coach Michael Curry at the Pistons Sept. 18 Season Tip-Off event in Flint, but I did get to listen in with real reporters as they asked him questions about his expectations, individual players and his coaching philosophy.

 

MICHAEL CURRY QUOTABLES!

On Amir Johnson:

“We have to realize Amir came straight from high school and the last couple of years he didn’t get a lot of (court) time. A lot of the things he’s done, he’s tried to be a hustle guy and an energy guy to try and earn his way onto the court and worked extremely hard. What we’ve been telling him and what he’s worked on is not just playing hard, but playing smart. We think as he gets confidence in the fact that he has a consistent role on the team, he won’t make some of those mistakes.”

On Rodney Stuckey:

“He’s still figuring out when to be aggressive as a point guard and when to set your teammates up. That’s gonna continue to be a learning curve for him. What we’re gonna try to do as much as possible is get him out on the court with Chauncey a lot and out on the court with Rip a lot. I look at those three guys as starters, and we want to try and get Rodney’s minutes up so all of those guys are around 30 minutes a night.”

On Rasheed Wallace:

“The thing we talked about early was I want him to be in better shape once training camp started and I want him to be able to maintain his conditioning throughout the season. Sometimes you get in basketball shape and you can play the whole season, but not be in great conditioning shape. We talked about doing a better job of focusing on our strength and conditioning program. Arnie Kander, who we feel is the best in the business, I don’t think we’ve taken full advantage of him over the last few years. I know a lot of people talk about Rasheed getting down into the post, I talked about that last year. We will call a lot of plays to get not only Rasheed, but all of our guys, down into the post because getting points in the paint is going to be one of our main focuses.”

On Kwame Brown:

“I think the biggest thing that I’ve seen is a young player that really likes the game of basketball. A lot of things circulate about players throughout the media. For me, I’ve always wanted to get to know a player myself. The things that’ve gone on throughout his career, you know, he took full accountability for. For me, that was enough. As far as playing, I think if Kwame was the 15th pick in the draft, they would only be talking about how good he’s played for stretches throughout his career. The fact that he was the No. 1 pick is the thing that everyone has held over his head, which is very tough for an 18-year-old. Now, I think at 25, and the things he’s gone through in the league, I saw a guy that had been beat down a lot, and sometimes maybe didn’t handle it the best way, but probably handled it the best way a young person knows how to handle it. Now I see him overcoming those things and his size, he’s a presence for us inside. It’s tough to find a young big that size, so we’re lucky to have him and the fact that he’s been excited and he’s been here working out all through September so far just shows that he’s excited about basketball. Our goal is to get him as healthy as possible, to define a role and just to continue to support and coach him. I think he’s had enough beat-down in his career and we don’t want to do that with any of our guys, we want to coach and teach rather than beat down guys on what they’re not good at.”

On Arron Afflalo:

“(As an assistant last year) I never had a problem with Arron (Afflalo). I think he’s as consistent a player as what we had last year as far as following the game plan.”

On the veterans:

“They’ve done a lot of things and they’ve been really successful, but I think you still have to coach those guys. You can’t take for granted that they’re just gonna do the things that they need to do to be successful. We have a group that you have to show them more than just tell them. I think we have to watch a lot more tape, a ton more tape compared to what they’ve watched in the past, so they can realize that what we’re telling you, you see it with your own eyes. I think at times that when you have a team that’s been really good for a long time, they can’t be that good every night, so its very important to add some younger guys into the mix. That’s on us as a staff to make sure our young guys are ready, and then we have the confidence and patience with them to go out and, you know, go out and establish their role on the team.”

On the team overall:

“As I’ve told our players throughout the summer when I’ve talked to them, We have a very talented team, and not just our starting five. Sometimes you’re gonna come out of the game not because your tired or because you’ve made a mistake, but its time for some other guys to get on the court.”

On the rotation:

“I think looking at our guys, that we have 10 guys basically that have been playing and have played great sometimes. We have to prepare guys to play certain roles, and when that time comes for them to be in the game, they know it is their time to be in the game. That’s gonna help us be a complete team and a competitive team.”

Roles of assistant coaches:

“What we’ve done throughout the summer when we’ve worked guys out, I don’t have one assistant that concentrates on smalls, the other one on the big guys, one on offense, one on defense. I expect guys to be well-rounded as coaches. Each day in practice, each coach will have an opportunity to coach offense and defense. It gives our coaches a chance to really reinforce things and teach things to the players.”

On possibly moving Antonio McDyess to the bench:

“When you have both of those guys (McDyess and Rodney Stuckey) anchoring your second unit then it allows your other role players to just play their roles and not play outside of themselves. You’re not asking Amir Johnson to become a primary scorer or Jason Maxiell or Kwame Brown. These guys can learn to get good at their roles and do the things that they do the best. Having a really good post scorer (McDyess) and a really good perimeter scorer (Stuckey) with them will help.”

On the team’s identity:

“I want to be a team, of course, that’s really good defensively. We’ve been good defensively but I want to be good defensively consistently. Let’s understand that our guys have been really good over the last six or seven years, but what we’ve had problems (with) at times is maintaining that consistency and playing at an extremely high level. What we have to do is make sure we do all the little things so we can play at that high level consistently and that’s something we haven’t done in the past. That comes with, I feel, being in great shape condition wise, taking care of all the little things offensively and defensively on a day-to-day basis and we have to do that as a staff and that is what we will enforce going into training camp.”

Rule changes affecting aggressive defense:

“Good teams, good players adapt. All you ask for is consistency. If I’m playing extremely hard and can’t hand check as much, I gotta move my feet more. That means I gotta be in better shape to move my feet. I still think no matter what, the game of basketball goes to the most aggressive team and the most aggressive players.”

OUR THANKS TO THE FLINT JOURNAL AND MLIVE.COM

Peace,

John W. Davis

www.pistonscast.com

What’s going on World? It’s time to take a look at the Las Vegas Summer League Roster now until July 18th. (CLICK LINK TO WATCH LIVE GAMES!)

I just want to make a note of what each player should focus on while playing in summer league.

Following is the Pistons Summer League Roster:

COACH: Michael Curry, 1st Year *He needs to start learning his team from the position and outlook of being the man in charge. The players who are apart of the rotation playing in summer league, (The Bench Babies) will be a major factor. They have to play in 08-09 for the sake of the future of our franchise.

I’m Out.

-John W. Davis

PRAISE THE LORD!

Our prayers have finally been answered.  It’s official Flip Saunders is gone.   We had to expect this move.  I mean come on he’s Flip Saunders.  3 Eastern Conference Finals and nothing to show for it.  That’s not progression.  He has been a sitting duck since 2007.

We all knew Joe Dumars was not going to sit and twiddle his thumbs. (Check the link for all his past major GM moves)  This move is only the beginning.   Please believe that some of our players will not be back for the 2008-2009 season.

Thank god Larry Brown is coaching Charlotte or he would be a leading canidate for the job.  As much as I hate on Larry for leaving us, he was effective.  1 Championship and 1 Loss in the Championship in Game 7.  Can’t ask for much more than that.

Right now my Money is on either Michael Curry or Bill Laimbeer.

Tune into Episode 53 to find out who we think will be the better coach for the Detroit Pistons.

-John  (This almost makes up for losing in the ECF… but not quite)

Stay tuned!